John Peel's Top Gear - 6th. July 1969

Just like the previous week, Peel arrives for Top Gear the day after attending an outdoor show, this time the Stones' famous Hyde Park concert. In session tonight: Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, The Pretty Things, Ustad Imrat Khan (left) and the John Dummer Blues Band.

The John Dummer Blues Band session is a repeat of the one broadcast on the 18th. May show, but this time there's an extra track, A Few Short Lines. Again, there's very little info out there about most of these sessions, so I've done the best I can. In particular, Indian readers will probably burst out laughing at my woeful efforts to transcribe Imrat Khan's tracks. If anyone can help me with proper track titles though, please drop a line in the Comments section below. I know next to nothing about Indian classical music, but this session sounds like an absolute stormer to me. So I'd like to get it right.

What else do I have to tell you? Oh yes, it's clear that the Peel/Walters relationship is developing nicely here, as there's several quips from John P about his new mate. And Peel bemoans the fact that David Bowie's new single is obviously not bound for the charts. Something called Space Oddity, apparently; whatever happened to that?

There appear to be a few speed issues here again; it seems a little slow at times. Also, it sounds like Peelie has trouble cueing up some of the recordings, as they often start too slowly.

Download (279Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Further Browsing

Imrat Khan
The Pretty Things
John Dummer Blues Band
Jon Hiseman

Tracklisting

• Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir
• Third Ear Band - Druid One
• Colosseum - Elegy (session)
• The Pretty Things - No More Spring (session)
• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Pre-Road Downs
• Imrat Khan (tabla: Mahapurush Misra) - Alap N'gat from Rag Kalabati (session)
• [News edit]
• Colosseum - Grass is Greener (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - A Few Short Lines (session)
• The Pretty Things - Alexander (session)
• David Bowie - Space Oddity
• Steamhammer - Even The Clock
• Colosseum - Jon Hiseman's Condensed History of Mankind (session)
• Dave Kelly (John Dummer Blues Band) - Hard Times (session)
• McKenna Mendelsohn Mainline - Better Watch Out
• Imrat Khan - Rag Tori (session)
• Mothers of Invention - Mr. Green Genes
• The Pretty Things - Marilyn (session)
• Blossom Toes - Kiss of Confusion
• Colosseum - February's Valentine (session)
• Edgar Broughton Band - Love in The Rain
• John Dummer Blues Band - Jungle Blues (session)
• Johnny Winter - I'm Yours And I'm Hers
• The Pretty Things - Send You With Loving (session)
• Top Gear Theme (snippet)
  

John Peel's Top Gear - 29th. June 1969

Fresh from the previous day's Bath Festival (right), Peelie introduces us to more fab 'n groovy Top Gear sounds. This one features sessions from Led Zeppelin, Pentangle, early Jeff Lynne band The Idle Race and the Savoy Brown Blues Band. The Pentangle session seems to be a repeat of the one in the previous post, but this time "I Got a Feeling", an extra song you won't have heard last time, is included.

Also features West Bromwich blues, strange things happening in Lewisham, an early 'wrong speed moment' and the Appletree Theatre using the term WWW 22 years before Tim Berners-Lee. Oh, and some nascent Peel/Walters banter, where JP has a go at his new producer for mixing up the Idle Race running order.

This one starts out veeeery sloooow, hence it's a bit longer than normal. Judging by the length of Honky Tonk Women, I'd say it's about 5% too slow at the start, but it settles down after about 15 minutes.

Download (284Mb, 320 Kbps MP3)

Further Browsing

Why No Success For The Idle Race?
Wikipedia - The Misunderstood
Amazon (UK) - Led Zeppelin - The BBC Sessions
Amazon (US) - Led Zeppelin - The BBC Sessions
Led Zep Session Details

Tracklisting

• The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
• Led Zeppelin - What Is And What Should Never Be (session)
• The Appletree Theatre - Sorry State of Staying Awake
• Pentangle - Bruton Town (session)
• Free - I'll Be Creeping
• The Idle Race - Someone Knocking (session)
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - Train To Nowhere (session)
• [News edit]
• Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love (session)
• Billy Preston - That's The Way God Planned It
• Pentangle - I Got a Feeling (session)
• The Misunderstood - Never Had a Girl
• The Idle Race - Please, No More Sad Songs (session)
• Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Neon Meate Dream of A Octofish
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - She's Got a Ring In Her Nose And A Ring On Her Hand (session)
• Chicago Transit Authority - South California Purples
• Pentangle - Hunting Song (session)
• Led Zeppelin - Travelling Riverside Blues '69 (session)
  
• Andromeda - Go Your Way
• The Idle Race - Sea of Dreams (session)
• Savoy Brown Blues Band - Life's One Act Play (session)
• Fairport Convention - Genesis Hall
• BB King - Sweet Thing
• The Idle Race - Reminds Me Of You (session)
• Martha Velez - I'm Gonna Leave You
• Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown (session)
• The Plastic Ono Band - Give Peace a Chance

John Peel's Top Gear, 18th. May 1969

Pentangle, Hunting Song, BBC Special, 1970

OK folks, here we go with show three of the eight recently-discovered Top Gears. Tonight there's sessions from Pentangle, Blodwyn Pig, Mandrake Paddle Steamer and the John Dummer Blues Band.

Session Details

There's not much I can really say about this one. Unfortunately, the BBC pages don't have details for a single one of these sessions!

Download (265Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Tracklisting

• The Mooch - Hot Smoke and Sassafras
• The Idle Race - Days of the Broken Arrows
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - The Big Feeling Blues (session)
• Bob Dylan - One More Night
• Blodwyn Pig - Ain'tcha Comin' Home, Babe? (session)
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - The Ivory Castle Of Solitaire Huske (session)
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Penthouse Pauper
• [News edit]
• Sons of Champlin - 1982A
• Pentangle - Hunting Song (session)
• Van Morrison - Sweet Thing
• Blodwyn Pig - Change Song (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - Skin Game (session)
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Coogar and Dark (session)
• The Famous Jug Band - The Only Friend I Own
• Pentangle - Bruton Town (session)
• Leonard Cohen - The Butcher
• Blodwyn Pig - It's Only Love (session)
• John Dummer Blues Band - Jungle Blues (session)
• Dave Kelly (John Dummer Blues Band) - Hard Times (session)
• John Fahey - Sail Away Ladies
• Mandrake Paddle Steamer - Senlak Lament (session)
• Spooky Tooth - Waitin' For The Wind
• Blodwyn Pig - The Modern Alchemist (session)
• Pentangle - Sally Go Round The Roses (session)
• The Who - We're Not Gonna Take It
• Vilayat Khan & Shanta Prasad - Concert in the Haunted Palace
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Top Gear, 11th. May 1969

King Crimson, 1969

I know I said I'd post one of these a week, but as I'm home tonight I thought I'd put up the second one now. I may be a bit quicker with the rest as well. So here's another full 2-hour Top Gear show from 1969. And in a packed programme tonight, Ronnie, there's sessions from Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, Tyrannosaurus Rex and The Bonzo Dog Band.

Session Details

Fleetwood Mac
King Crimson
The Bonzo Dog Band

(The Beeb has no details of this Tyrannosaurus Rex session on its Peel pages. Also, eagle-eyed readers may notice that the Bonzos' "Brain Opera" is not included here, possibly because it's a repeat session.)

Download (267Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

Tracklisting

• Top Gear Theme
• The Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day
• Tim Rose - Roanoke
• Fleetwood Mac - Tallahassee Lassie (session)
• Bonzo Dog Band - Mr. Apollo (session)
• Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia (session)
• King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King (session)
• [Edit to cut out news]
• Martha Velez - It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising
• Bonzo Dog Band - Look At Me I'm Wonderful (session)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Nijinsky Hind (session)
• Fleetwood Mac - Heavenly (session)
• Jefferson Airplane - It's No Secret
• King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man (session)
• Mike Cooper - Poor Little Annie
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - The Misty Coast of Albany (session)
• Neil Young - The Loner
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart
• Fleetwood Mac - Early Morning Come (session)
• The Glass Menagerie - Have You Forgotten Who You Are?
• Canned Heat - Low Down
• Bonzo Dog Band - Quiet Talks And Summer Walks (session)
• Johnny Shines - Baby Don't You Think I Know
• Fleetwood Mac - You'll Never Know What You're Missing Till You Try (session)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex - Chariots of Silk (session)
• King Crimson - Talk To The Wind (session)
• Kak - Golgotha
• Leviathan - Time
• Fleetwood Mac - Blues With A Feeling (session)
• Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away
• Colosseum - Walking In The Park
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Top Gear - 27th. April 1969

Principal Edwards Magic Theatre

Probably the post of the year on the peel group was from user hills1902, who announced a couple of months back:

I have some old 7 inch reel-to-reel tapes of eight Top Gear
programmes that I recorded in 1969 and 1970, with sessions from the following bands:

26 Apr 69 - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Eclection, Family
11 May 69? - Fleetwood Mac, King Crimson, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bonzo Dog Band
Date unknown - Pentangle, Blodwyn Pig, Mandrake Paddle Steamer, John Dummer Blues Band
Date unknown - Ten Years After, Roy Harper, Third Ear Band
29 Jun 69 - Led Zeppelin, Pentangle, Idle Race,
6 Jul 69 - John Dummer Blues Band, Colosseum, Pretty Things, Imrat Khan
4 Jul 70 - Country Joe Macdonald, Fotheringay, Cochise
11 Jul 70? - Kevin Ayers, East of Eden, Son House

Well, the tapes have now been encoded and properly dated, and they're absolute gems, giving a real flavour of the Top Gear experience for those of us too young to have been there (well, I was technically 'there', but at 8½, hardly 'hip and happening' enough to set the dial for this). So over the next 8 weeks I'll be uploading these classic shows to the Karavan, starting with this one, which features sessions from, as stated above, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Eclection and (The) Family. There's only a slight glitch in Mr. Apollo, as indicated below, but otherwise this is a full two-hour show in very reasonable nick for its age. Manna for Peeliacs.

Many thanks to hills1902 for supplying these, to John for ripping and encoding them and to Phil for hosting them on his server.

Download (273Mb, 320Kbps MP3)

The file's too big for divshare, so I've switched to sendspace this week. Hope everyone's OK with that.

Session details

The Eclection
Family

(The BBC's Peel pages have no details for this particular PEMT session, but I expect Ken Garner's upcoming book will put that right. Oh, and while we're at it, the BBC lists the group as Principal Edward's Magic Theatre, but I'm reasonably sure that's wrong.)

Further Reading

Dandelion Records
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
(This site includes an article by Peel about the band published in "Disc and Music Echo" earlier that month.)

Tracklisting

• Top Gear Theme
• The Byrds - Old Blue
• Canned Heat - Time Was
• The Eclection - Both Sides Now (session)
• Chicken Shack - I'd Rather Go Blind
• The Family - A Song For Me (session)
• Bonzo Dog Band - Mr. Apollo [skips back to end of the Family track, then continues and jumps a bit further into Mr. Apollo]
  
• News at 7:30
• The Eclection - Restitution (session)
• Bob Dylan - Country Pie
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Lament For The Earth (session)
• The Family - Bring It On Home (session)
• Pentangle - Once I Had A Sweetheart
• Credence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Ballad of a Big Girl Now (session)
• The Eclection - Charity (session)
• Leonard Cohen - Seems So Long Ago Nancy
• BB King - Sweet Little Angel
• The Family - Love Is A Sleeper (session)
• Coliseum (Colosseum) - Those About To Die
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Third Sonnet To Sundry Notes Of Music (session)
• The Eclection - Earth (session)
• The Moody Blues - Send Me No Wine
• Gordon Smith - Instrumental No. 2 [Interrupted by a motoring flash]
• The Family - I Sung 'Um The Way I Feel (session)
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Pinky: A Mystery Cycle (session)
• Doctor John - The Lonesome Guitar Strangler
• The Eclection - Put On Your Face (session)
• Top Gear Theme

John Peel's Perfumed Garden - 12th. July 1967

Peel on the Galaxy

I'm indebted once again to Colin Ellis for this one.

This is the first two thirds (80min) of a Perfumed Garden show that I'd not heard before. Here, we find John refreshed from a week's shore leave and armed with "all kinds of beautiful records for you". Also features Peel reading the weather and discussing entries to the "Zodiac Cosmic Sounds" contest. A very beautiful thing, you see.

If you like this sort of thing, you might like to know that my upload of Guy Brown's reconstruction of the final Perfumed Garden is still being seeded here after more than 18 months. (You'll need to be bittorrent-literate to get it.)

Play/Download (72.8MB, 79:31, MP3)

Tracklisting

• All You Need Is Love - The Beatles (fades in)
• Epistle to Dippy - Donovan
• Meet Me In The Bottom - Howlin' Wolf
• Granny Takes A Trip - The Purple Gang
• You Don't Have To Go - The Misunderstood
• European Son to Delmore Schwartz - Velvet Underground
• Sparrow - Simon and Garfunkel
• Big Boss Man - Jimmy Reed
• Sagittarius - Zodiac Cosmic Sounds
• Fly Away - Blues Project
• Rock My Plimsoul - Jeff Beck
• White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
• Mother, There's A Strange Man Waiting At the Door - Roger McGough
• Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix Experience
• 1.00 Weather
• February Sunshine - Giant Sunflower
• America Drinks, Status Back Baby, Uncle Bernie's Farm, Son of Suzy Creamcheese - The Mothers of Invention
• Dust My Blues - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
• Fixing a Hole - The Beatles

John Walters - Room 101 - 4th. September 1992

Peel, Walters and some wee lass

No Peel site worth its bytes could fail to mention the massive contribution made to JP's legacy by his great friend and long-time producer John Walters. If you're unaware of the importance of Walters in Peel's life, you could do a lot worse than peruse this article, which also concentrates on Beefheart.

Here, Walters can be heard opposite Nick Hancock on the original radio version of Room 101, a show where guests would argue why their least favourite things in life deserved to be banished forever. Peel would appear on the show over a decade later, by which time it had moved to television and was being hosted by Paul Merton. If I can seek it out in time, I'll upload that one next week.

Play/Download (50.5 Mb, 256Kbps, 27:36)